Diego Boneta is Having A Good Year (With More to Come)

He's gone from soap opera to musical to action flick…and he's just getting started

A year ago, handsome young -- 22 years old on November 29 -- Diego Boneta was one of a gaggle of equally handsome young Latino actors who was enjoying some small but significant success, with continuing roles on teen-soap shows like "90210" and "Pretty Little Liars." But in the last twelve months things have truly taken off.

First there was Rock of Ages, where Diego played the romantic lead and appeared alongside the likes of Tom Cruise and Bryan Cranston. A few months later, he became part of the ensemble of MTV's newest show, Underemployed. And now the Mexican-born actor has been cast in John Stockwell's ("Cat Run," "Seal Team 6") new action picture, "In the Blood," alongside Yvette Yates, Danny Trejo, and Gina Carano.

Boneta started early and strong, appearing in a musical reality show called "Codiga Fama" at the age of 12. That led to a role and a part in a musical group for another Mexican series, then a role in one of Mexico's most popular telenovelas, "Rebelde." He's produced a couple of best-selling albums (he even wrote most of the songs for the most recent one), and has been nominated and/or received Latin Grammy Awards and MTV Latin Awards. And then he came to the U.S., and almost immediately landed arcs on Liars and "90210."

And let's check that age again: yes, "twenty-two" on November 29.

Sometimes it's easy to think of young actors as 'overnight sensations;' they seem to appear quite suddenly on the radar. Then you dig just a little and find out that–age and ease of performance notwithstanding–they've been working just as long and just as hard as some performers who are literally twice their age.

That's certainly the case with Diego Boneta–one of the younger 'old professionals" in Latino Hollywood. And obviously his upward trajectory is just beginning to gain speed.